Disclaimer: I, orgymoogle, do not own Final Fantasy VII (none of em'!) or any of the characters or creatures in it. Nor do I own the plots, storylines, or any of its other geniusness. I am merely an obsessed fangirl writing a fanfiction.
A/N: Gosh ya'll, I'm so sorry this took so long to get up! I've had the almost-finished chapter on our laptop forever, but I never just sat myself down to finish it. Plus I've been role playing a lot lately...heheh, sorry! But here it is! Not too proud of this chapter, not too ashamed of it. I wrote the end of it at like...5:00 a.m. and I was pretty tired, so...yeah. It's o-kay, in my opinion. xD
Thanks for all of the alerts, favorites and reviews! And thank you for being so patient! I'll try to update more often! Read and enjoy. ^_^
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Angels and Demons
- II -
Close Encounter
"Zackary, are you even listening to me?" I raised my eyes to see my frustrated English teacher staring me down, an annoyed scowl on his face. I grinned sheepishly and sunk in my seat slightly. He sighed and closed the book he was holding in his hands, then came around to stand at the front of his desk. "If you don't pay attention you won't pass the class," he said sternly, not taking his eyes off of me.
"Sorry," I replied, scratching the back of my neck. He sighed and stood up straight, continuing his lesson and keeping an eye on me to make sure I was paying attention. To tell the truth I wasn't sure what I had been doing to give myself away. I hadn't been sleeping...maybe he'd asked me something? Ah, well. I couldn't get my mind off of what had happened the other day.
They weren't closing the university, oddly enough. Everything seemed normal, for the most part. Of course, students were gossiping. Everywhere I went I heard students whispering to one another about the previous day's event. It had been a pretty gruesome seem, after all. Luckily the body had been covered before I'd gotten a chance to see it. I definitely wouldn't have been able to get that out of my mind. And I couldn't forget about that feather, either. I'm not sure if anyone else had noticed it yet. I'm sure they had, but I hadn't heard anything about it. Maybe it was just a coincidence? But...in all those other murders...there had been one black feather left with the body.
I saw a camera crew on campus the other day...maybe they got it on tape. I hadn't seen them on the news yet, though. Not that I'd really gotten a chance to watch the news since then. Or...maybe they weren't going to say anything about it? Maybe they didn't want people to stop going to the college. But they couldn't really hide the murder from everyone, could they?
I wasn't paying attention to the class at all. I almost forgot they were there. I'm sure they wouldn't hide it...nah, they couldn't. I took a moment to glance up at the teacher so that it at least seemed like I was paying attention. He was eying me, but when I made eye contact with him he seemed satisfied and turned to the rest of the class.
Eventually I heard the sharp ring of the bell and the rest of the students around me stood and gathered their things quickly. I was still deep in thought as I stood and stuffed my books and note paper--which didn't have any notes from the class on it--and headed for the door. The teacher was still preparing to leave, too.
"I can't wait to see your homework, Zackary." I grinned in small confidence and adjusted the strap of my messenger bag on my shoulder.
"And, uh, what exactly is my homework, again?" The teacher rolled his eyes and went back to his papers, exiting the classroom and leaving me there alone. I sighed and hung my head for a moment, then exited and tried to find one of my classmates to ask what our homework was. When I spotted one, Kunsel, I jogged to catch up with him and slapped my hand down on his shoulder. "Hey, buddy!" I greeted.
"Hey, Zack," he said, smiling. "What's up?"
"Well, actually, I need to know what our homework is." He chuckled and shook his head.
"Having problems paying attention, huh?" I shrugged helplessly.
"Eh, what can I say...I've got a lot on my mind." He gave me an incredulous look and I furrowed my brow in confusion. "What?"
"YOU have a lot on your mind?"
"Hey!" I punched him on the arm playfully and he laughed.
"Alright, alright. Here," he said, handing me some pieces of loose paper. I took them and glanced over them briefly, then looked back up at him.
"What are they?"
"I wrote down our homework, and also took notes. You'll definitely need those." He chuckled again and I grinned.
"Thanks, man." I patted him on the back and stopped to walk the opposite direction down the hall. "Seeya later!"
"Seeya!" He waved me off and I headed down the hallway, passing several people I knew and giving them brief "hello"s.
I didn't have class for another hour or so, so I decided to go find someone to hang out with until then. I started my search outside of the main college building. I wanted to find Cloud, and he was probably outside somewhere. He liked peaceful places where he couldn't be bugged by people--preferably outside. He tried to come off as a loner, but I knew he liked having friends.
I strolled to the park very casually and, not to my surprise but to my delight, I saw Cloud sitting on the grass near a fountain. His headphones to his iPod were in his ears and he really seemed to be concentrating on whatever it was that he was drawing in his sketchbook. He loved drawing, and he was pretty good at it, too. I'd seen a couple pictures of me that he'd drawn, and they were 100% accurate. I was amazed every time I saw one of his drawings.
Anyway, since he was plugged in and concentrating, it would be really easy for me to sneak up on me. I was going to, but then I thought twice about it--something I'd only learned how to do recently. He was drawing, and I didn't want to make him jump and mess up the whole picture. Then he would get sad...or mad, and then he wouldn't talk to me. We couldn't have that, now could we?
So, instead of scaring the unsuspecting boy, I plopped down next to him with a huge grin on my face. "Heya, Cloudy!" I said loud enough so that he could hear me over his music. He looked up at me and quickly hid whatever it was that he was drawing.
"Z-Zack!" he stuttered, obviously surprised. I laughed.
"Whatcha drawin'?"
"Uh, nothing," he replied quickly, closing his sketchbook. I frowned.
"Why don't you want me to see?"
"Because...it's not finished yet!" I smirked cockily and he stared at me warily.
"Is it a picture of me?" He blushed lightly, and I knew I'd scored. "C'mon, lemme see!" I tried to grab the sketchbook from him, but he moved it away just in time.
"No!"
"Haha! What, did you draw me naked or something?" Cloud's whole face flushed when I said this, and my eyebrows shot up in surprise, an amused grin spreading across my face. "Oh?"
I often teased Cloud like this. His reactions were hilarious! Of course, I never let it get too far.
"S-shut up, Zack!" Cloud stood abruptly but I was already one step ahead of him. I tried to grab the book and this time I was successful in getting my hands on it, but Cloud wouldn't let go. "Let go, Zack! I don't want you to see it!" But the sketchbook slipped from his grasp and was now in my control. Cloud looked horrified and shocked, and desperately tried to grab it back. I laughed and began running away. "Zack!"
He chased after me and almost tackled me to the ground a couple of times. He was faster than I thought! Especially for such a short guy. He finally succeeded in doing so, however. Luckily it was on grass, in the park, so my face didn't get too badly punished for stealing Cloud's secret sketchbook. I laughed as I fell to the ground and Cloud fell on top of me. Cloud, however, was determined to get his book back, and grabbed it from me before I had a chance to defend myself. He was sitting on my back and he hit my head with the sketchbook.
"Jerk!" I just laughed as Cloud fumed, and he blushed. "It's not funny!" I made myself stop laughing.
"You're right, I'm sorry," I said, but I was grinning like an idiot the whole time, so I don't think he believed me.
He glared at me and I snickered. He rolled his eyes and got off of me, standing beside me instead of running away. He held his sketchbook very close to his chest, as tightly as he possibly could, it seemed. I didn't stand up; instead I rolled over so that I was laying on my back and looking up at Cloud more comfortably.
"Is that really what you were drawing?" I asked, supporting the back of my head with my hands. He rolled his eyes again and began walking off. I laughed and stood up, following after him. When I caught up with him so that we were walking side-by-side, I straightened my shirt and adjusted my messenger bag. "Where are you headed?"
"Well, I was having a nice time in the park until you came along," Cloud spat, and I pretended to wince.
"We can go back, if you want...I promise I won't try to steal your sketchbook again," I chuckled, and he eyed me suspiciously.
"Okay, I guess."
We walked back to the park, chatting idly to one another about topics such as school and work, though I quickly changed it to something else. Those were probably my least two favorite subjects. We got back to Cloud's spot in the park and he sat down. I laid beside him in the grass, supporting my head with my hands.
"Yeah, okay, I'll see you later!" I waved to Reno with a big grin on my face as he left the building. It was closed now, and we were leaving work. Cloud and I were the only ones left in the building. The blonde was hurriedly gathering all of his stuff together. I watched him curiously, slipping on my messenger bag. He frowned and looked through his bag a bit more frantically. "Somethin' wrong, Cloudy?" I asked, walking to stand beside him.
"I can't find it..." he murmured worriedly, pulling things out of his bag and then checking his pockets.
"Find what? Your wallet? Phone?"
"No, my MP3 Player..." He stopped searching and thought for a moment, staring distantly into space as if he were in another place entirely, at another time, when suddenly he popped back into reality and turned his head to glare at me. My eyebrows shot up in surprise but before I could say anything he beat me to it. "You," was all he said, pointing an accusing finger at me. I placed both of my hands on my chest, gesturing to myself in confusion.
"What'd I do?"
"You made me lose my MP3 Player!" Cloud snapped, and I tilted my head.
"I did...?"
"I had it in the park earlier, but then you stole my sketchbook and I must have lost it..." Cloud glanced nervously up at a clock hung on the wall and then began stuffing everything back into his bag. "You have to go find it," he demanded. I looked at him incredulously.
"Why me?"
"Because you're the one who made me lose it! Besides, I have to go to a class meeting, and I'm gonna be late if I don't leave now," the blondie quickly explained, grabbing his bag and heading for the door. I followed him and we exited the building.
"But...its so dark out," I whined, taking note of how quickly the day had turned to night. The sky was really dark, but the moon was almost full and was shining pretty brightly.
"That's just too bad," Cloud replied bluntly, giving me a short glare before heading off in a different direction at a hurried pace. "You better find it, Zack!" he called before disappearing into the shadows.
I sighed and scratched the back of my neck. Well, great. Guess I better get it over with now...
I reached the park about twenty minutes later, taking my time. It was nice out, even though it was so dark. The air was crisp and fresh--well, as fresh as it could be on a college campus. When I got there, however, I wasn't sure where to start looking for Cloud's missing device. We'd ran around a good portion of the park earlier that day, so it could be practically anywhere. I silently thanked the moon for shining so brightly; at least it would be easier to see that way. I began my search and about ten minutes into it I began feeling...weird. Not myself, really, but something felt off. Fear rose inside of me and I looked around cautiously. I felt like someone was...watching me. My thoughts suddenly raced back to the murder that had taken place on that very campus the night before, and I froze. I gulped, trying to shake the feeling off but it wouldn't work.
"C'mon, Zack...whoever it was is probably long gone by now," I tried to convince myself, but a shaky voice isn't very convincing.
"No, I'm still here."
I froze completely when I heard a dark, sinister, smooth voice come from somewhere behind me. It only took me a few moments, however, to turn around quickly to face whoever it was who had spoken. I couldn't see anyone at first, and my eyes desperately searched the darkness for a face. I couldn't see any sign of a human being, but I knew I wasn't hearing things. I began to panic, my eyes darting back and forth quickly, looking for some sort of life form.
"Umm...hello?" I asked, brow furrowed worriedly.
"Hello, Zackary."
My eyes shot open wide when whoever it was said my name and a tall figure slowly stepped out from the gathering of the trees. It was very clear to me now that it was in fact a human man--or so it seemed--, with very toned muscles and long, flowy, silver hair. This surprised me nearly as much as the man showing up in the first place, but these thoughts quickly dissolved as my full attention turned back to the incredibly tall male before me.
"Wh-who are you?" It was hard for me to talk. There was a huge lump forming in my throat and I couldn't swallow it. His narrowed, aquamarine eyes flashed with something completely and utterly sinister and his sadistic smirk grew as he took another step towards me. I wanted to move back, but I couldn't. I could hardly feel my legs. I wasn't sure how I was even standing.
"Oh, you haven't heard of me yet? Well, let me give you a proper introduction." Before I knew what was happening, he was right in front of me. Hardly an inch separated us, and his face was right next to mine. My breath hitched and I began to shake. I could feel his breath on my neck, and soon his hot breath was on my ear. "I'm the infamous murderer who's been going around. You know, the one with the feathers." He snickered mockingly at the end of his sentence, as if the word going around about him was ridiculous.
My mind was rushing. I couldn't think straight at all. How the hell did I end up face-to-face with a mass murderer? Fear overcame me. That's all I could think about. Was he going to kill me? I didn't want to die! I was too young to die!
I gasped when I felt his lips against my neck. I could feel the smirk still gracing his lips and soon I felt his teeth brushing against my neck. "Wh-what are you doing?!" I asked in a panic, my heart racing unbelievably fast.
"Mmm...it's a shame," he moaned, bringing one hand up to my back and biting down on the skin on my neck, "you're an awfully cute one." I gasped again, louder this time, and shuddered, the overwhelming fear and shock causing my knees to buckle. I fell into him but he kept me up easily. It was then I realized just how strong he really was, as he held me up easily with one arm and bit down once again on the tender skin of my neck, then slid his hand down my back and then into my pants.
"S-stop!" I'd meant it to come out as a harsh demand, but it sounded like more of a mixture between a gasp and a whimper. This only seemed to edge him on, as he pressed his body closer to mine and began trailing kisses down my neck. "Wha--!" He suddenly pushed me away very roughly, causing me to fall onto my butt in surprise. Just as quickly as he'd appeared, he disappeared, leaving me all alone. Or at least, I thought I was all alone.
"Zack?" I heard a familiar voice call from behind me, but I couldn't turn around to face him. My head felt like it was going to explode. What the hell had just happened? I tried to remember why in the world I was at the park that late anyway, and I remembered that I was originally looking for Cloud's missing MP3 Player when that man...the freaking murderer had come out of nowhere and started groping me! "Zack...?" I suddenly became aware of the man behind me and his hand on my shoulder, and I whipped my head around to see him. Blue-green eyes stared at me worriedly, red hair falling in front of them--because, oddly enough, he wasn't wearing his goggles.
"Uhh..." was the intelligent reply I offered him.
"Oi, you okay, man?" he asked, and the look on his face made me wonder what I looked like sitting there on the park ground, looking like a dumbfounded puppy.
"Y-yeah," I answered hurriedly, trying to stand up with shaky legs. I was wobbling uncontrollably and Reno helped me stand by grabbing my arm and pulling me up straight.
"Dude, you look like you just saw a ghost or something." My face went pale when I heard his freakishly ironic joke, and he seemed to notice. "Uhh...why are you out here right now, anyway?"
"I, uh...umm," I stuttered, trying to gather my thoughts as I automatically began walking in the general direction of my dorm--at least, I think it was. "I was looking for...Cloud's, um..." Reno grabbed my arm to stop me from walking any further, and when I tried to lose his grip on me it tightened.
"You were looking for Cloud?" the redhead asked, brow furrowed. "Why would Cloud be out here this late at night?"
"No, I was looking for..." I never finished that thought, though, because my mind decided it was more important to focus on getting out of the park. "We--we need to get out of here," I said quickly, grabbing onto his thin wrist and nearly dragging him out of the park in my haste to get back to my dorm.
"Zack--what's wrong with you? Would you slow down for a second?" Reno tried to stop me but I wouldn't let him. I was much stronger than him so I had no problem dragging along his skinny little ass. "Zack, come on! What's going on?" Eventually he gave up asking me questions and let me take him all the way to my dorm room. Once inside, I shut the door and locked it. Then a thought came to me.
"Where's Cloud?" I asked, worry rising in my voice again. Reno shrugged, raising one brow at me.
"I don't know...care to explain why you're freaking out?" I bit my lip and paced around the room once, trying to decide whether or not to go look for Cloud or not. I was worried about him and I definitely didn't trust him walking around campus alone--after all, I'd almost gotten killed by some psychopath moments earlier!
"Reno, I saw him," I said, grabbing him by his shoulders.
"Saw who...?"
"I saw the murderer!" Reno gave me a disbelieving look. "I did! I'm not kidding!" I said seriously, my grip on his shoulders tightening. I could see the slight pain in his face from me doing so, but didn't dwell on that for long. "He was this close to me, Reno!" I exclaimed, showing him just how close the silver-haired man was.
"Um, Zack, are you sure you saw the murderer?"
"Of course I am! Why the hell would I joke about that?!"
"I can think of a couple reasons why...look, man, you need to calm down," Reno said, leading me to the small couch in my dorm. He sat me down and I let him, not bothering to look up at him when he sat next to me. "Woah, Zack, what have YOU been up to?" Reno asked me, chuckling, and I was confused until I looked up and noticed he was pointing to my neck. I raised my hand to said area and then got up to look in a mirror, groaning when I saw the reflection of a hickey on my neck. "Who did that?" Reno was still snickering and I glared flatly at him.
"HE did this! The killer!"
"HAH! Yeah, right!"
I was going to reply when suddenly we heard footsteps coming down the hall. I began to panic for a second, the fear and realization of what had happened to me not too long before still soaking in, but then I realized it was only Cloud when I heard him muttering to himself as he unlocked the door. My hand still rested on my neck and I gasped and dashed into our bedroom when I realized that Cloud would see it. Reno stood out in the middle of our living room, obviously confused, when Cloud came in our dorm room. I couldn't see them but I heard the door open and I could hear muffled voices. I threw off my messenger bag and pulled off my short sleeved shirt and jeans, quickly changing into some long sleeved pajamas with a collar that I could pull up to cover my neck. My fingers were shaking as I buttoned up the shirt and raced back into the living room at an abnormal speed.
"H-h-hey, Cloudy!" I chirped, a big, fake grin on my face as I tried to look normal. Both Reno and Cloud were giving me weird looks.
"Um, hey, Zack. Did you find my MP3 Player?" Cloud asked very straight-forwardly. My face fell and I scratched my neck sheepishly, quickly being reminded of the hickey that was there and letting my hand fall limp to my side instead.
"Umm...no." When I answered, Cloud looked pissed and he crossed his arms, raising one disapproving brow. I hated it when Cloud glared at me like that. It was scary. "I looked for it for a long time, but it was really late and cold a-and--"
"Zack...you're buying me a new one," Cloud said flatly and then sighed, walking over to me and dumping off his bag on one of the chairs on the way. I sighed and slumped my shoulders.
"Sounds fair enough," I murmured, surprised when Cloud came to stand in front of me.
"You have all your buttons buttoned wrong, doofus," he said, shaking his head disapprovingly but smiling at the same time. He unbuttoned them all and blushed when my shirt was open. He nearly pulled his hands away, but I guess he figured he should finish what he had started so he buttoned my shirt up all the way. I smiled warmly at him as he did so, amused at how easily he could be embarrassed. We'd known each other for years and had been room mates ever since we both started going to the same college, and he was still embarrassed to see me naked. He was a strange little dude. I had to keep my hand up at my neck to keep Cloud from seeing anything he shouldn't, and somehow I did without getting him suspicious.
We heard a loud snort and both of us turned our heads to look at Reno, who was looking at us in amusement with his hands on his hips. "I guess I'll leave you two love birds alone," he said, that mocking tone still dripping from his voice. "G'night!"
I grinned while Cloud blushed some more, trying to hide it by glaring at Reno. "Goodnight!" I replied, waving as he shut the door. Once it was shut, though, I was reminded of my close encounter with the mass murderer and I moved quickly to lock the door. I heard Cloud sigh and turned to see him walking into our bedroom.
"I'm beat. I'm gonna go ahead and hit the hay." I smiled fondly at Cloud's use of country boy terms and nodded.
"Kay. G'night, Cloudy!"
Cloud grumbled something and then went into our room, shutting the door behind him. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck, flopping down onto the couch. I still could hardly believe what had happened that day. Or night, rather. It left me with an uneasy feeling and I frowned just thinking about it. I shook my head and turned off all of the lights, made sure everything was locked up and then followed Cloud into our bedroom.
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A/N: Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a review, cuz' it really does give me more inspiration to write! I'll try to get the next chapter up relatively soon, but remember that I have about two or three other stories going right now plus I'm working on other stuff!
P.S. I went to see Iron Man 2 at midnight with some friends on Thursday night, and it was AWESOME! I love Rubber Ducky. x3
-orgymoogle
